Chapter Text
It had been a long time since Ascot met a person he could call beautiful.
Sure, he saw the beauty and kindness in the hearts of giant scary beasts, but when it came to his dealings with people, he usually found them sorely lacking. People weren't beautiful when you could hear them whispering about the kid who sold his soul to summon demons as you walked by. People weren't beautiful when they swarmed you with swords and magic at the ready, demanding that you get out of their town before someone got hurt. People weren't beautiful when they made you choose between a life with the dearest friends you've ever had and a life where you could see your parents again.
But there, inside that egg-shaped underwater vehicle heading for the surface while Ascot remained in this shrine at the bottom of Cephiro's sea, there was a beautiful girl. As quickly as she entered his life and forced him to reevaluate everything he was doing, she was gone. Everything had happened so fast that he was still feeling dazed from the experience, and he didn't quite know what he was supposed to be doing now. However, he did know this much. Her name was Umi Ryuuzaki, and even if they never met again, he would never forget her.
In the meantime, he had his duties as a Palu, a summoner of beasts, to attend to. He raised his hand to pet Yaris, his ever faithful friend. The creature knelt down without a second thought, as he always did, letting his summoner stroke his beak.
"You still trust me?" Ascot asked solemnly, though he knew very well the answer. Yaris nodded enthusiastically.
"Will they still trust me?" He continued. Once again, the bird nodded with great gusto.
"Even Capella?" This time, Yaris hesitated thoughtfully for a good ten seconds before nodding slowly and much less certainly than before. Ascot let out a short laugh.
"Yeah, I know, he's not gonna take this well at all. And I'd been making such progress, too." He sighed, "Well, here goes nothing." He turned from his friend, raised his hand again, then took a deep breath. There was no easy way to tell your closest companions that there were eight less of them now than before, no easy way to admit that it was little more than your folly that got them killed. But then again, that was probably for the best.
First, however, accommodations had to be made. With a bit of concentration and a bit of fancy handwork, Ascot conjured two building-sized spheres, one filled almost completely with water and the other filled half-way with sand.
Beast bubbles, a most convenient method for summoning creatures limited to certain environments. He'd found the trick in a book he'd 'borrowed' from Lord Zagato's personal library. For such a high level magician, the guy didn't much of a collection to speak of. Ascot felt a bit guilty taking anything, but since he was never planning on going back there again, it wasn't like he could return it now.
Anyway, now for the summoning itself.
"Maxima!" He shouted. A six-point star appeared in front of him, and two beasts entered their respective bubbles.
"Pajero, Marbella." Ascot greeted the stingray who could only move through sand and a giant green squid, "If you could just hold on a moment-" Pajero interrupted by bumping into Marbella's sphere, sending her rolling. Once Marbella regained control, she came bounding back with her own counterattack that sent the other flying. It was at this point that their summoner recalled why exactly Lord Zagato had forbidden him from using the beast bubbles in the castle shortly after trying them out for the first time. Apparently, many of the artifacts on display were simply not built to withstand the forces generated by two racing monster balls.
"Get back here!" He tried, but they were already having too much fun bouncing off each other's bubbles and the surrounding walls and pillars to care. He just shook his head, lacking the heart to reprimand them any further. After all, not even a day ago, he'd been just as excited to see this shrine for himself. The place was enormous, large enough for all his beasts to come out and play at the same time, and isolated, cut off from anybody who might object to the creatures appearing within seeing distance of their backwater town. Better and better, judging by the lack of damage from the earlier fight or either of the two giant pinballs, whoever or whatever built this shrine used only the strongest materials. Still, he wasn't here to admire architecture. The rest of his friends were waiting.
Ascot called them out three at a time, greeting each one by name and waiting a minute before summoning the next set. It just wouldn't do to exhaust himself before he got to the dismal news. Faizer was the first to notice something amiss. They were the first called to the fight, and Ascot had only just recalled them in time to avoid the red haired knight's fire attack. They knew what the others were being called out for after them, they made the connection. Rather than mingle with any of the others, or even join in on the increasingly out of control bubble mayhem, they stood by Yaris in solemn silence. When Capella emerged, his summoner had to force himself to look up. It didn't go unnoticed, as the large amphibious warrior also took a place by Yaris and Faizer, perhaps unsure of the reason for their quiet, but knowing it couldn't be good.
Capella. 'He might've won.' Ascot thought grimly. For a split second during that fight, right after the first casualty, the boy had considered summoning him, only to dismiss the idea just as quickly. Now, looking back, Ascot wondered if he made the right choice. But really, it just wasn't that simple, was it? He might've been right not to summon Capella, but he'd been wrong from the moment he'd sent out any of his friends to attack the Magic Knights.
Finally, everybody was out. Every single one of his companions left in this world, nearly a third less than there should be by all rights. He could only hope Yaris was right, that they would still trust him enough to stay in his company. Hell, Ascot wouldn't even blame them if they didn't. He probably wouldn't be able to forgive himself for a while as is. Speaking of Yaris, the creature's beady eyes looked down at his summoner, silently asking if he was ready. He nodded in return, prompting the bird to cry out for everybody to gather round. And they did. Because they trusted him. And now there was nothing left to do but tell them how completely he let them all down.
"Everybody, I-" Ascot began, choking back a sob as the tears started flowing freely, "I'm sorry!"
He had no idea how much time he spent explaining everything, having to stop periodically when the tears got to be too much. Yaris knelt down behind him, just as he did when he had to apologize to Umi's friends. He appreciated it just as much now as he did then, if not more. Capella listened with a stony face, stoic as always. Pajero and Marbella had stopped their rolling completely, stilled by the gravity of what they were hearing. The boy tried not to leave anything out, tried to do as much justice to the memory of their fallen friends as possible. The only thing they ever did wrong was trust their summoner more than he deserved.
"If I were the summoner- No, if I were the friend all of you deserved, I wouldn't have needed her to tell me to stop. If anybody wants to leave, you can. Well, some of you can't right now cause water and all, but I'll transport you to the surface if you want. It's just- you guys have always been so good to me, and I just completely blew it-" He clenched his fist, "If there were some way I could make this up to all of you, to them, I would, but- But nothing will bring them back. There's nothing I can do. All I can promise is that it won't happen again. I'm done working for Zagato, I'm done having my friends fight for me. We'll be homeless again, but we've always managed before, right? And this time- This time I'll fight for all of you." There. He'd said what needed to be said. It seemed only too fitting that this shrine and the Mashin that once resided inside were meant to be used by the Magic Knight who specialized in water magic, for all the tears that had been and would be shed here. Several of the others were wailing themselves. But despite everything, no one tried to leave. Ascot looked up to Yaris for clarification.
"Is anyone-" He asked, but Yaris just shook his head. At this rate, Ascot didn't think he'd ever stop crying.
His friends… No wonder he always found humans so unpleasant. How could they ever even begin to compare to friends like these? Well, except Umi, but she was clearly a special case.
"I- I just wish I could give them a proper send off. They deserve that. With all the lights and funeral pyres and dancers-" Before he could even finish that thought, a large brown canine with fangs and a dark mane stepped forward and nudged him affectionately.
"Vigor?" Ascot asked, frowning thoughtfully, "What is it?" Vigor cocked his head towards the center of the shrine where a stone dragon once stood dormant for centuries, but now all that remained was the backdrop with the sun and the clouds.
"You think that would be a good place for a pyre?" He clarified, to which Vigor nodded, "Well, yeah, you're right. Don't think I have enough wood for eight, though-" This time Capella interrupted, heading for the shrine's exit.
"Capella-" He said. The creature stopped, turning slightly. Ascot smiled sadly. Capella was still listening to him after all.
"Thank you. We won't start until you get back." Capella nodded, then walked right out the waterfall doorway. The boy briefly considered that he might just be leaving them under the guise of gathering wood for the pyres, but that didn't seem likely considering his blunt nature. So with that issue dealt with, Ascot once again addressed the remainder of his friends.
"All right, now the rest of you-" He announced, "Let's give them the best damn funeral ever."
That evening, Cephirans living near the coast experienced an earthquake and several giant waves. They wrote it off as one of the tremors that came with increasing frequency the longer they went without a pillar stabilizing their world. Nobody needed to think otherwise.